Uhuru Kenyatta to resign from Azimio council
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Uhuru Kenyatta to resign from Azimio la Umoja coalition council to focus on the peace-building process
Uhuru Kenyatta to resign from Azimio la Umoja coalition council to focus on the peace-building process.
Former president Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to resign as the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition council chairman to concentrate on his peace project.
The coalition plans to convene a meeting of the top organ for Uhuru Kenyatta to formally relinquish his position in the union of parties that sponsored the presidential bid of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the August polls.
According to a report published in the Sunday Nation, Mr. Kenyatta has already taken a back seat in the running of the coalition.
His legal obligation to abstain from holding any positions in a political party in order to get his pension has also influenced his decision to leave.
The Presidential Retirement Benefits Act of 2003 specifies that Mr. Kenyatta must submit his resignation no later than February 2023.
The pending resignation comes in the wake of major pro-establishment defections of some of Mr. Odinga’s key allies.
Mr. Odinga, who is presently seeking to organize his troops to build a significant anti-government organization, is expected to suffer a serious political loss as a result of the defections and Mr. Kenyatta’s predetermined retirement.
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The coalition, which brought together at least 26 political parties, formed two organs – the Coalition Council and the National Coalition Executive Council (NCEC).
Ahead of the August 9 polls, Mr. Kenyatta was named the chairperson of the council – the coalition’s top decision-making organ – while Mr. Raila Odinga was named the party leader and a member of the council.
Mr. Murathe, the NCEC deputy chairman and also the Jubilee Party vice chairman, confirmed the planned resignation of Mr. Kenyatta from Azimio.
Mr. Murathe, a close ally of the former president, told the Sunday Nation that Mr. Odinga will take charge of the coalition moving forward.
“We will be having a meeting very soon where he will formally resign as the chairman of the Azimio council. Obviously, you cannot have two drivers steering a bus. This vehicle called Azimio now has one driver and that driver is Jakom (Mr. Odinga),” said Mr. Murathe.
He said Mr. Kenyatta has decided to focus more on his new role as a peace ambassador in the region.
“He is now above local politics. Going forward, everything is Jakom and the Azimio system. The council will sit and make a decision about who takes up the position but the overall leader of Azimio is now Jakom and there is no ambiguity about it,” said Mr. Murathe.
NCEC chairman and former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya said Mr. Kenyatta has remained inactive in the coalition affairs after Mr. Odinga’s loss in the polls.
Mr. Oparanya said the former Head of State is rarely consulted on political matters since “he has been very busy with his peace assignment in the DRC”.
He also made reference to the legal requirement that Mr. Kenyatta has to resign before he can access his pension.
“If he does not resign, he cannot get his pension. Him resigning is not a big deal because we don’t expect him to be active in politics moving forward,” said Mr. Oparanya.
“He has not been active, anyway, after the elections. Consultation with him on party issues has been very limited,” he disclosed.
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